Box Score COLUMBIA, SC (September 27, 2014) – Fort Valley State University Wildcats (3-1; 2-0) freshman kicker Juan Serna' 40-yard field goal with time running out lifted the Wildcats to a 33-30 conference win over the Tigers of Benedict College (2-2; 1-1) on Saturday at Charlie Johnson Stadium.

"I was hurting from the kickoff, but I had confidence and I was telling coach that I was ready to kick that field goal," Juan Serna said. "I had some pressure, but I also love what I do and love my team, even if I was hurt I was there and glad I could come through for the team." 

FVSU needed 90 seconds to march 54-yards to get into field goal range after the Tigers tied the score at 30 with 1:32 remaining. The key play was a 25-yard run by quarterback Otis Brown to the Tigers 23-yard line with 2.4 seconds left.

"Any win on the road is a good win. What made us overcome the tie game were coming from behind and the will to win," said FVSU head coach Donald Pittman. "On paper we should have won, because we had more skill, but we also had the will power to win. In the end we had to go for the field goal. We had confidence in Juan, as he has been preforming well, competitive and making the play when we needed it."

FVSU finished the game with 420-yards in total offense, while rushing for over 227-yards and another 193 by air. The game was even in time of possession with FVSU 29.08 to Benedict's 30.52.

Jalen White led the Wildcats with 87-yards on 13 carries and one touchdown, while Malcolm Eady rushed 9 times for 73-yards. Eady also went 4-for-8 in passing with one touchdown. Otis Brown was 11-of-19 for 157-yards, 2 touchdowns and rushed for 41-yards.

Drelon Freeman came off the bench to lead FVSU with 8 pass completion, 132-yards and two touchdowns.

Defensively, Stefon Harper had 8 tackles (7 solo) and Bill Sparks chipped in 5 tackles (4 solo), one sack and one tackle-for-losses. Brian Walker, Aaron Davis and LeRon Furr finished with 4 tackles apiece.  
 
Playing their first of two games on the road, 7th ranked Wildcats fell behind 10-0 in the first half, as Benedict's Cameron Stover connected on a 4-yard touchdown pass to Kendariss Brown at the 6:07 mark and Tony Mimbs kicked a 19-yard field goal with 1:32 left to lift the score to 10-0.

FVSU quickly regained the lead on their next possession as Jalen White capped off a 1-yard touchdown run completing a 6 play, 77-yard drive with 13:39 remaining in the 2nd half to close the gap 6-10. The Wildcats went for two point but the try failed.

After the Wildcats defense forced a three-and-out, FVSU struck again at the 8:08 mark with Otis Brown capping off a 9 play, 73-yard drive on a 42-yard touchdown pass to Drelon Freeman (Serna kick good) 13-10.

Benedict's Stover pass completion to Jeremy Glinton for a 75-yard touchdown put the Tigers back in front with 7:35 left before the half. (Mimbs kick good) 17-13

FVSU received the ball with 5:20 to half and with 1:30 left, Brown made it payoff with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Mario Cherry to finish a 10 play, 45-yard drive (Serna kick good). 16-17

"I told the team at halftime that this was our game and our time and that both the offense and defense had to pick things up in the second half," Coach Pittman said.

Coach changed to Malcolm Eady at quarterbacks in the 3rd quarter and at the 10:09 mark the move paid off, Eady connected with Freeman on a 25-yard touchdown to give the Wildcats their first lead (Serna kick good). 23-17

Stover would put Benedict back out front on a 1-yard run with 2:15 on the clock in the 3rd quarter finishing a 7 play, 66-yard drive (Mimbs kick good). 24-23

In the 4th quarter, Brown back at quarterback completed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Renard Williams to put the Wildcats back out front with 10:17 left in the game (Serna kick good). 30-24
          
The Tigers started the late-game excitement by putting together an 11-play, 94-yard scoring drive, capped by a 51-yard scoring pass from Stover to Okechi Ntiasagwe on a fourth-and-12 play. Stover kept the drive alive with an earlier critical first-down connection on a fourth-and-11 play from the Benedict 5-yard line.

The scoring play actually was a lucky break for the Tigers. Stover, under heavy pressure, fired high down the middle toward Glinton. Glinton and a Wildcats defender both went up for the ball at the 25-yard line, but it deflected toward the goal line and into Ntiasagwe's hands at the 18. He raced home ahead of three frantically pursuing FVSU defenders (Mimbs kick attempt failed). 30-30

The Wildcats will travel to Tuskegee, AL on next week to play conference foe Tuskegee University at 1 p.m.